ONLINE: Animal, Mineral, Vegetable & Digital

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Martha Glowacki

Detail from "Deconstructing Flight."

Animal, mineral, vegetable, digital, man, woman, person, camera, TV. No, it's not a cognitive assessment. "Animal, Mineral, Vegetable & Digital" takes a closer look at the importance of plant and animal (and mineral!) specimens in museums and university natural history collections. It’s a peculiar and fascinating 19th century wing of science that can seem somewhat macabre (all those pinned butterflies!) but has proven invaluable in helping scientists look back at the state of species more than 100 years ago. Worldwide, curators are digitizing these collections to provide greater access. Curators Ken Cameron, Laura Monahan, Craig Brabant, Carrie Eaton and (bonus!) artist Martha Glowacki (whose work often borrows from the iconography of 19th century specimen-hunting and display culture), are on this Wisconsin Academy panel discussion. Free and open to the public with advance registration, on Zoom.

press release: A VIRTUAL PANEL DISCUSSION

Tuesday, October 13 • 6:00–7:30 pm

In this era of rapid environmental change, the animal, mineraL and plant specimens preserved in natural history collections offer a crucial window into the past. A worldwide effort to digitize these collections is giving scientists greater access for research, collaboration, and the development of long-range datasets. Learn about UW-Madison's contributions to this effort with curators from the UW's Zoological and Geology Museums, the Wisconsin Insect Research Collection, and the Wisconsin State Herbarium.

Martha Glowacki, co-curator of the Collections & Connections exhibition and an artist who often works with natural history specimens, will join the panel as well. 

Free and open to the public with advance registration. This event will be held on Zoom.